


Logged On

by gladixlusamicitia



Category: Saints Row
Genre: Explicit Language, F/M, Family Issues, Kidnapping, MMO AU, Saints Row Big Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 16:19:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4673300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladixlusamicitia/pseuds/gladixlusamicitia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Row Online is a massively multiplayer online crime game with thousands of players all across the globe. When the boss of the online gang, the Third Street Saints receives a private message from one of her gang members asking to meet at Row Online Con, she's found herself drawn into a battle not only online but offline as well that leads to her make a decision on if it's really worth logging on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Decisions

**Author's Note:**

> Had a lot of fun writing this for my first ever big bang! MMO AUs have always fascinated me, so I couldn't resist this topic.
> 
> The accompanying mix for the fic can be found here - http://8tracks.com/hunnybadgerv/logged-on - check it out, it goes so well with the story! <3

The Row Online  
Log In  
Sign Up

Username: ScarletSaint  
Password: *******

Welcome back, ScarletSaint  
3 Friends Online  
3 Crew Members Online  
Join Game  
Join Crew

[ScarletSaint has logged on]

[Game Chat active]

[TheTactician is chat host]

EightInch – ‘Bout time your burnt ass logged on

ScarletSaint – Yeah yeah, I’m here but seriously, you’re never gonna let me live that down are you?

EightInch – Not at all

WildCard – What excuse did you use this time?

ScarletSaint – Told Marie that I had a date, was the only way she’d have Lo’ for the night and take her to school in the morning

New PM from WildCard

WildCard to ScarletSaint  
Maybe if TooManyQuestions logs on you’ll be on a date ;)

ScarletSaint to WildCard  
Don’t you start on that! I don’t know a thing about him outside of this game! Besides, I don’t like him.

WildCard to ScarletSaint  
Such a lie, don’t worry Boss, I won’t say a word~ x

PING

EightInch – Come on ladies, we have work to do

ScarletSaint – Aren’t we waiting for the others?

TheTactician – SaintsFace can’t make it online, sent me a PM earlier. TooManyQuestions and RideToHeaven will be joining us shortly.

[RideToHeaven has logged on]

RideToHeaven – Sorry about that, dealing with griefers sending me shit

EightInch – Only cause you beat their asses at the online races

RideToHeaven – I told you, I’m the best damn racer to come out of Chinatown, online and off. I’m assuming I’m the main driver on this job?

TheTactician – Fo’ sure, no one has driving skills like you

WildCard – We just waitin’ on TooManyQuestions now? Thought this was only a four person job?

TheTactician – No, this one has a bigger payoff but we need six people in total

[TooManyQuestions has logged on]

TooManyQuestions – Hey, had to have my smoke break before we got settled

RideToHeaven – Are we ready to move on this one then before anyone else snatches the score?

TheTactician – As long as ScarletSaint is ready

EightInch – Fuck yeah she’s ready, let’s get on with this

New PM from TooManyQuestions

ScarletSaint – Yo hold up a min’, Marie just text

TooManyQuestions to ScarletSaint  
You heard about RowOnline Con?

ScarletSaint to TooManyQuestions  
I think so, it’s being held in Stilwater right?

TooManyQuestions to ScarletSaint  
You thought about going?

ScarletSaint to TooManyQuestions  
What you mean like… Meet up? The whole crew?

TooManyQuestions to ScarletSaint  
Yeah, sure, cause I was hoping that we could meet up there. You and I.

It was a Tuesday evening in March when the message came through from one of the members of the online crew, the Third Street Saints, to the leader of the crew. Known by her online username, ScarletSaint, Cecila Samara stared at the screen. Hand frozen on the mouse as she slid her purple headset off to around her neck, resting on her bare shoulders.

I was hoping that we could meet up there. You and I.

Her pale blue eyes stared at the monitor, trying to register the text that sat in the private message from TooManyQuestions. Her heart pounded in her chest, hand reaching up and covered her mouth, head shaking until another message popped up in her inbox.

TooManyQuestions to ScarletSaint  
Was that a bad idea?

Cecila brought her legs up to her chest, awkwardly balancing her shins on the edge of her computer desk. She didn’t know anything about this person beside the fact they were male and played the same online game as her with their little crew. She had no idea what they looked like or what even their real name was. Her hands reached out, beginning to type a response to them then deleted the message as soon as she’d typed ‘not at all’. Her front teeth caught her bottom lip, chewing absent-mindedly until she decided to type a response to the poor man on the other side of the screen.

ScarletSaint to TooManyQuestions  
I want to say it’s not but I don’t know anything about you. You could be a serial killer for all I know, I don’t even know your name.

Hitting send made her heart pound in her chest, closing her private messages and tuned back into the game chat, pulling her headphones back up onto her head.

ScarletSaint – Sorry, text turned into a call.

Cecila zoned out for a moment, fingers hovering over the keyboard as she pondered to herself. RowCon sounded like a good idea anyway if she could get Marie to look after Lolita again, maybe even get the rest of the crew to go and meet them all. WildCard had already suggested that her and Cecila meet up at some point for a drink, why not make it a starting point to getting everyone to RowCon. Before she could stop herself, Cecila had the private messages box open and typed out a message to WildCard.

ScarletSaint to WildCard  
Y’know how you mentioned meeting up a while ago? Fancy meeting up for lunch or something this week?

WildCard to ScarletSaint  
Wow, never thought you’d actually want to meet. I’m out of dust anyway, want to meet tomorrow at the Freckle Bitchs on Misty Lane around 1?

ScarletSaint to WildCard  
That’s near my sisters place, I’ll see you tomorrow. How will I know what you look like?

WildCard to ScarletSaint  
Trust me, you’ll see me. My hair is very noticeable.

ScarletSaint to WildCard  
That seems fair, also… I just realised, I don’t actually know your name? Mine’s Cecila

WildCard to ScarletSaint  
I thought we’d do the name telling when we met, haha! I’m Shaundi, nice to finally know your name, Cecila.

Cecila couldn’t help but smile at finally knowing the name of one of the people she considered her closest friends on this multiplayer game, Shaundi. It suited her, a pretty name. Running a hand through her fiery red hair, Cecila couldn’t help but think back to TooManyQuestions, did she dare tell him that RowCon was a possibility depending on what Shaundi thought?

ScarletSaint to TooManyQuestions  
It’s a possibility. If we meet up with everyone else, I’m not risking meeting you and it turns out that you are actually some kind of serial killer. Just… Let me think about it.

TooManyQuestions to ScarletSaint  
So, we get the whole crew to meet at RowCon? If they’ll do it, I doubt EightInch will want to join us.

ScarletSaint to TooManyQuestions  
Like I said, let me think about it and I might find a way to convince them to join us. I’m sure RideToHeaven and TheTactician will join us, it’s just them.

TooManyQuestions to ScarletSaint  
I apologise for putting you on the spot, hope this doesn’t change anything.

ScarletSaint to TooManyQuestions  
Nah, it’s cool. Now, how about we actually get on with this job before we’re yelled at?

The Row Online – Rules and Information

• The Row Online is a free to play massively multiplayer online game based around an open world environment and crime  
• The Row Online is one of the biggest MMO open world games with over two millions players world wide  
• Players will complete tasks given to them through NPCs to become crime lords and rise through the ranks  
• Experience will be earned through tasks such as holding up stores, races and heists  
• Players can recruit friends to join online gangs in order to perform heists more successfully


	2. Making Plans

Cecila didn’t bother rolling out of bed until eleven the next day; there wasn’t much point seeing as she wasn’t picking up her daughter Lolita until four when school got let out. A yawn left her lips, pulling open the curtains to the window, letting the sunlight trickle in the room. She was meant to be meeting Shaundi for the first time today on the other side of the city; she needed to take the train over and check everything was all right last night with her sister.  
Her body clothed in a pair of black lacy boy shorts and a loose spaghetti strap vest when she finally slid out of the pit that was her bed, the angel wing tattoos on her shoulders shifting as she stretched and made her way into the kitchen, passing by the surprisingly turned off computer with several packets of crisps and mugs strewn about.

“Maybe I should clean up…” She mumbled to herself, running her fingers through her messy and knotted hair. Not exactly the image she wanted to portray if she ended up bringing a guy over. The thought of meeting Shaundi today was enough to make her feel sick in the stomach, Marie would have kicked her ass if she knew what she was planning to do today. Regardless, she considered Shaundi one of her closest friends even if they’d only just revealed their names to one another. A heavy sigh left her lips as she picked up the cups, stuffing the crisp packets inside in order to clean up properly later.

It was rare that she ever had anyone over, bar her daughter Lolita, most of her friends were based online in the massive multiplayer game that Marie insisted that she was addicted to. It isn’t an addiction, Cecila bitterly thought to herself as she dumped the crisp packets in the bin and lifted out the bags to take them out for the garbage collection later. I can quit whenever I want too Marie knows that. Besides, why should I prove myself to her? What’s she done with her life that I haven’t? The red head shook herself from the argument inside her head, one she had often when she was forced to be alone with her thoughts. Maybe she could spend more time with Lolita, maybe she could actually do something like go out and find a partner, hell, go out drinking and get laid one night, heaven knew it’d been a long time since her ex broke up with her.

Dropping the cups in the sink, she turned and leaned on the kitchen counter, glancing out of the window while chewing on her bottom lip. Maybe meeting up with everyone from her crew online was a good thing? Give her a one on one social life instead of one that was constantly digitally based. If they even agreed to meet up, though the thought of meeting TooManyQuestions made her heart race, she didn’t even know what he looked like, what he sounded like… She didn’t even know his name.

“Ah fuck!” She cursed, forcing the thoughts of her online fantasy out of her head and stormed over to her bedroom, yanking open the doors to her wardrobe. Marie was only going to complain at her if she didn’t turn up on time, like she always did regardless of what she was doing. If it wasn’t about how she played RowOnline all the time, it was about how she dressed, how she wasted money on tattoos, that she was never going to find a nice self respecting man with how she lazed around at home.

Pulling off her nightwear, Cecila quickly changed into a loose white vest and denim shorts, slinging on a leather jacket over the top of it before she slipped on a pair of purple converse shoes. Grabbing her Ill Wireless Smartphone off the side table, she turned it on and grabbed her purse, brushing her hair and applying some eyeliner and lip-gloss. If there was one thing she was proud about, it was her ability to put make up on in little to no time at all. Locking the door behind her, Cecila darted out her apartment building, heading towards the EL Train light railway train that ran throughout Stilwater.

Whereas her sister Marie worked and lived in the suburban area of Stilwater, Cecila had stuck to her roots and lived in the Saints Row district, the area was rundown to say the least but it was cheap to live in, as long as Ultor didn’t get their way of course. For years, the clothing company had been trying to expand and modernise the Saints Row district of Stilwater, making it nicer for the tax dodging government and bigwigs with their millions. The Harrowgate station wasn’t too far away, allowing Cecila to grab an EL train as soon as she arrived, perching down in a seat next to the doors.

Stilwater wasn’t the worst city to live in, sure there were areas that were a lot better than the others – mainly those districts across the large suspension bridges, it had a decent university and stadium, there was a nice school in the suburbs as well, an airport and docking area for the exports. Chinatown was probably one of the biggest areas of import and export for the city, with rumours flying about drug deals and scandals with the Stilwater police department from the very streets. Cecila had a personal favourite tea shop run by a man named Mr Wong, once when she arrived for dinner out with her daughter, she found the elderly man throwing out a customer wearing a hot dog suit, screaming at him in Mandarin Chinese. The whole city passed by as a blur while she travelled on the train, all the people below with there own ordinary lives. How many of them had she played online with? It was a known fact that the majority of players for Row Online was developed and housed in Stilwater, meaning the majority of players were also based in the same city. Even as she left the train and made her way to Marie’s house, it was always the same, nothing really happened in Stilwater, nothing that the public knew about anyway.

Arriving at Marie’s house was never as nice as it seemed to be on the outside, her house was a nice little detached home with a pretty pale pink paint coating on the outside. It was every bit the typical suburban mother house with the picket fence and well kept garden with a sign that said ‘welcome to our home’. Whereas Cecila lived in a simple apartment, Marie had made her money through being a successful article writer for the Stilwater Tribune and liked to make sure her home was as clean as a brand new show home.

Knocking on the door, Cecila crossed her arms, forcing a smile on her lips when Marie opened the door. The two were very similar in appearance, Marie was older than Cecila by six years, she was 33 years old but prided herself in looking professional. She was never without a clean pressed pantsuit, the family’s signature fiery red hair was always done up in a perm and thin golden rimmed glasses. Still, there was the same disappointed expression on her face.

“Come in.” She sighed as Cecila walked in to the living room; the younger sibling still had her arms crossed. The living room had a pure cream carpet with a large television and several works of art on the work. The coffee table in the middle had a set of dolls on the top of it and drawings of dresses that had a scribbled name next to them ‘Lolita Samara’. Cecila just sighed as she sat down on one of the large white leather couches.

“Lolita settled well last night, she said that you had a date with a young man.” Marie spoke as Cecila put her feet up on the coffee table, the woman slapping her sisters legs to get her to remove them as she perched on the couch next to her. Cecila bit her lip, sniggering to herself, technically she did if you could count the cheeky and sometimes quite spicy private messages between her and TooManyQuestions from last night. “But we both know you didn’t really go on a date, did you?”

“Hey, I was on a date…” Cecila pouted to Marie, the woman just raised an eyebrow then she let out an exasperated sigh when Cecila started to laugh. “I mean it was a digital date! But I had a date!”

“That doesn’t count, Cecila. When oh when are you going to stop messing around on that stupid computer game and go out and really socialise! You haven’t done so since Garrett left you!” Marie frowned at Cecila, the younger sibling just shrugged her shoulders and turned her head away, Garrett. She was always bringing up her ex-boyfriend Garrett. It wasn’t her fault that he decided to go and sleep with another woman. “You’re addicted. And as long as you keep playing that game, you’ll never care for anyone but yourself.”

“You’re wrong, Marie. I do care for others.”

“What about your daughter, Lolita? Is she more important than that game? She needs a father figure in her life, Cecila, you know it.”

“You know she is. She always will be.”

“Then prove it.” Cecila snarled to Marie after the comment her sister made, grabbing her belongings and stormed out of Marie’s home. Her sister just scoffed, shaking her head as she made her way back in to the kitchen to begin preparing the meal that her and Lolita would dine on later that evening after she picked up Lolita from school.

The red head stormed down the street when she slammed the door shut, how dare Marie. She did love her daughter, she put her before everything else, it didn’t matter what Marie said. She was wrong about it. Cecila wasn’t addicted; she could stop whenever she wanted too. And that’s what she was going to do, right after Row Con; she would meet Shaundi today, plan everything out and then meet her online gang. Lolita came first, certainly not an online crime game. And she’d certainly tell TooManyQuestions that she wasn’t interested in them.

Freckle Bitch’s wasn’t the highest class of dining in Stilwater but it was one of the most famous and cheapest. The décor was based around a light blue and white check colour scheme, with hints towards the 50s with the furniture. The post lunch rush was starting to die down at this point, meaning not so many people were sat inside ordering and eating. Pushing open the door, the little bell rang at the top of the door; Cecila glanced around the eatery, looking for Shaundi.

‘Trust me, you’ll see me. My hair is very noticeable.’

Shaundi’s message from last night made her scan the restaurant again, everyone looked… Normal. Nobody really stood out, except for maybe the young woman that was staring at her with a wide grin on her face. The red head glanced around, sheepishly hoping there was someone behind her that the woman was looking at but no, it was just her standing there like an idiot. The woman rose from her seat at the counter, grinning brightly at Cecila.

“Uh… Shaundi?” Cecila questioned, raising an eyebrow. The young woman nodded before pulling Cecila in to a very quick and tight hug. Shaundi was a pretty young woman with murky brown dreadlocks and bright caramel eyes, skin a gorgeous tan colour.

“Hey, Cecila, nice to finally meet you!” Shaundi all but pulled Cecila over to the counter, sitting her down next to her when the hug was finally broken. The red head forced a smile then looked away, what was she supposed to say now that they had met? This couldn’t have been more awkward than she thought. “Want lunch?”

“Uh yeah, sure.” Cecila perched next to Shaundi; the young woman was bright eyed and had a very pretty smile. Not to mention the tattoos adorning her body. A star on her hand and some tribal ones on her back, the grey crop top she was wearing and low rising lilac jeans were accentuating the ink on her body. Though it was possible that Shaundi had noticed how nervous Cecila seemed to be when she passed a menu to her. “You ok, Ceci?”

The name Ceci made her shiver, what Garrett used to call her when they were together. How was she meant to stay calm when she’d made the decision to close her account after meeting up with everyone? Maybe she really was addicted to that damn game.

“Don’t call me Ceci… Sorry, ex used to call me that.”

“Shit, sorry. Still, don’t be nervous, I’m not going to kill you.” Shaundi laughed causing Cecila to smile, she seemed sweet. Cecila thumbed the edge of the menu, ordering a Fist burger meal and a coke, Shaundi ordering the same. “I mean, if you’re nervous, I can give you something for it. Ever tried Loa Dust?”

“You mean the shit that’s circulating the university right now? Heard of it, never tried it. Last thing I did was smoke weed back in high school.”

“My ex hooks me up.” Cecila couldn’t help but laugh as Shaundi smiled, winking to her. The red head couldn’t believe how open she was and they’d only just met.  
“How do you know I’m not secretly a member of the Stilwater police department?” Cecila raised an eyebrow as she spoke, Shaundi just shrugged then motioned when the bell on top of the door rang out again, a police officer walking in to the restaurant and up to the counter, ordering a latte to go. “Ok, perfect timing there.”

When she glanced over, she couldn’t help but smile. The officer that walked in was extremely attractive – and it wasn’t just the fact she liked a man in uniform here – murky brown hair and eyes, not too tall but probably slightly taller than herself, then there was the stubble around his mouth. Catching her bottom lip with her teeth, Cecila turned on the stool and smiled brightly to him.

“Hey man, good to see you! I’ll see you at work tonight!” Shaundi’s eyes widened in shock, the officer raising an eyebrow to Cecila while her eyes begged him to play along. He smiled, nodding to her.

“It’s good to see you. Enjoying your afternoon off?” There was a slight twinge of an accent there, Cecila couldn’t entirely put her finger on where the accent was from but she liked it. With a nod of her head, Cecila replied.

“Yeah, you know how it is, might as well spend my afternoon off in a productive manner.” Cecila couldn’t stop herself from laughing as she turned to see Shaundi’s worried expression. Covering her mouth, she sniggered and tried not to double over.

“I knew you weren’t a cop, don’t worry me like that!” 

“I’m sorry, it was too perfect not too.” Cecila was still laughing as the officer just smiled, Shaundi rolled her eyes as the red head turned back to the officer with a grin on her lips. “Thanks for playing along with me, man.”

“Not a problem, have a good day ladies.” He nodded as he paid for the coffee and left the building, Cecila whistled lowly as Shaundi shook her head. The food was placed down in front of them both, the red head tucking some of her bright red hair behind her ears.

“So, Row Con… Are we serious about this?” Cecila cleared her throat, bringing up what they originally arranged to meet for. Shaundi picked at the fries, popping one in her mouth. “I mean, are we going to be able to convince everyone to go to the convention?”

“I don’t think it will be too difficult, I heard a lot of the online gangs are going so it’s possible that can be used.” Shaundi shrugged as she looked up at Cecila, dipping a french fry in some tomato ketchup.

“Yeah, we’ll organise it tonight then? Book the tickets?” Shaundi nodded as the two began to tuck into their food, laughing and gossiping about the members of their gang. Trying to figure out what kind of person each of them was before their possible meeting at Row Con in several weeks time. In the back of her mind, Cecila wondered if TooManyQuestions was anything like what she imagined he would be.

[ScarletSaint logged on]

[Game Chat active]

[EightInch is chat host]

ScarletSaint – So, do you guys want to meet up at Row Con in a few weeks? WildCard and I are going.

The Row Online – Rules and Information

• In game chat will be moderated by the chat host  
• No personal information will be displayed to other members of the game  
• Private messages will only be able to be viewed by those who sent them and who received them


	3. Meetings

Row Con was hosted several weeks later at the Ultor Dome, the only place big enough to hold such an event. Posters and banners flew around the venue and the city, promoting the event as people flocked towards it. Cecila stood messing on her phone while she waited for Shaundi to arrive so they could grab their entrance wristband and souvenir convention badge that people seemed to be wearing when Cecila had arrived. It was the first convention that Cecila had officially decided to go to, though realistically she wouldn’t have gone anywhere near it if she hadn’t been planning on using it to meet up with the rest of the Third Street Saints, no matter how many of their online rivals had planned to make an appearance.

“Yo! Cecila!” Shaundi’s voice called from across the car park, the bohemian chic woman just grinned at her scarlet haired friend, holding a print out of her ticket in her hand. “Excited?”

“I guess, don’t really know what to expect with this sort of place.” She mumbled, pulling her folded up ticket from her jeans pocket and headed over to the large queue. The two chatted idly, wondering about the people they were meeting.

“We’re meeting the rest of the Saints in the Gang Point, as the con calls it, it’s basically a social area where people gather and grief each other.” Shaundi just sniggered, people mumbling and shouting in the line.

“Until someone lashes out and starts a fight?” Cecila commented as two people started shrieking at each other about some kind of grief from online. It made her pull a face, were people really in to the game that much that they’d bring it in to real life? It didn’t make much sense to her.

“Yeah, then it ends up on the forum and their reputation is ruined.” She laughed again, starting to roll a cigarette from a metal tin containing roll ups and loose tobacco, she offered it out to Cecila who took one and began to roll up a cigarette. “Keeping it legal today, just to be safe. But seriously, what do you think everyone will be like?”

“EightInch, they’re going to be arrogant… Possibly, SaintsFace… Maybe… I don’t really know. TheTactician, they’re going to be controlling or be smarter than they seem.” Cecila pondered, fiddling her fingers around the roll up paper as she made up a cigarette for later. “RideToHeaven, I’m assuming that’s a woman that’s sure of herself…”

“And TooManyQuestions?” Shaundi gave her a shit eating grin, Cecila just glared but bit her lip as she slid the cigarette in to her pocket. What were they like? Were they as charming as they were online? She didn’t know but she was excited to find out.

The queue got shorter, Shaundi trying to get Cecila to admit what she liked in a partner until they were handed their wristbands and con badges by the members of staff on the ticket check booths in one of the halls. The inside of the dome and main hall of the convention was a lot bigger than Cecila expected it to be, she couldn’t believe how many merchandise stalls were stood selling their wares – figures of important non-playable characters from the tutorials and single player missions, even fan art in an artist alley, the amount of people willing to take commissions of peoples characters for money were through the roof. Not to mention the amount of cosplayers walking around, Cecila just raised an eyebrow at them before passing by. Who’d have thought an online multiplayer game would have been popular enough to result in cosplayers, though they probably would only have been recognised at a specialist convention such as this one.

“Oh, word of advice Boss, don’t eat in here.” Shaundi commented as they made their way to the gang meet up zone. “The food is over priced, there’s a Freckle Bitchs down the road anyway.”

“I’ll take your word for it, shit looks expensive here anyway.” She scoffed, five dollars for a plain burger. She wasn’t paying those prices, not at all. Might have been gourmet and the best burger in the damn world but that wasn’t going to change her mind. Not when she could go and get a fun bag from Freckle Bitchs for the same price.

The one commitment the group had made was that they would all wear at least one article of clothing that was purple; Cecila had chosen a purple vest that was visible when she had her leather jacket open while Shaundi had gone for a purple bandana in her hair. What the others would be wearing, neither of them knew. The zone was spacious with plenty of groups hanging around together, all muttering and whispering when Cecila and Shaundi walked in together.

“I don’t like this, where are the others?” Cecila whispered to Shaundi, glancing at the other people in the zone. Blue, green, red and yellow were the prominent colours that they all sported, it seemed the majority of them had a similar idea to the Saints. “I think they might know who we are.”

“ScarletSaint? WildCard?” The two women turned on the spot to come face to face with a Korean man grinning at them both. His hair spiked upwards with dark roots and frosted tips; Cecila raised an eyebrow at his hair, then focused on the sunglasses covering his eyes. He was dressed in a white t-shirt with a purple fleece jacket over the top of it with jeans and boots; Cecila opened her mouth as Shaundi grinned.

“Holy shit, I think I know who you are.” The man crossed his arms over his chest as Shaundi stepped over to him, pointing at him. “You’re EightInch, right?”

“In the flesh, name’s Johnny Gat.”

“Cecila Samara. This is Shaundi.” Cecila smiled, a bit awkwardly, this was the man she argued with online? The very same man that liked to call her ass burnt? What a prize he seemed to be, and very full of himself from the way he was speaking to Shaundi. Cecila wasn’t entirely sure if she liked him or not now that she actually met him… Though there was something to be said about being the presence of the best Mayhem player in the entire world.

“So you’re our burnt ass boss, huh?” Gat commented making Cecila narrow her eyebrows at him, oh she definitely didn’t like him. “The one that took over from Julius?”

“We don’t fuckin’ mention Julius, you know that.” Cecila snapped back, Shaundi stepping back slightly with a curious expression on her face. The scarlet haired Saint just lowered her head then turned to face Shaundi, of course she didn’t know who Julius was. It was before she joined the Saints. “Julius was the former boss of the Saints, but we kicked him because he caused us to lose a lot of matches. We don’t talk about him or that time.”

“And this boss seems to be better than him anyway.” Gat threw in the comment, making Cecila smile slightly, ok maybe he wasn’t that bad but he still had room for improvement.

Slowly but surely, the other Saints began to arrive and meet up with the trio in purple. SaintsFace was revealed to be Pierce Washington, an up and coming star that kept trying to push his mixtape on them, the dark skinned man dressed in a grey suit with a purple shirt on underneath and a grey flat cap on his head – apparently he’d just come straight from an audition in the richer districts of Stilwater, hence his appearance. TheTactician was Dexter Jackson, preferring to be called Dex, a dark skinned man with fuzzy brown hair wearing a purple sun visor with a heavy denim jacket over his purple shirt, the man had a small job at Ultor and was hoping to get promoted in the next few months. RideToHeaven was a gorgeous Chinese woman that Cecila had actually seen before in her favourite teashop in Chinatown, her name was Lin and she worked as a waitress during the day and worked on tuning up cars at night then racing them on weekends away. She dressed her dark hair up in a high ponytail with golden chopsticks slipped in them along with a black crop bustier and purple tracksuit pants. Within minutes of meeting Gat, Lin had already told him to shut up and stuck her middle finger up at him, Cecila couldn’t help but grin when she did so, Lin had definitely made a good first impression.

“Are you worrying about them not turning up?” Shaundi whispered to Cecila as they glanced around for one last person wearing purple. TooManyQuestions, the person she wanted to meet the most.

“Sorry I’m late.” Cecila froze at the voice, no fucking way, even Shaundi’s eyes widened as they turned around to see the cop from the day they’d met in the restaurant. The two women looked at each other then back to the man who was introducing himself to everyone, Cecila couldn’t breathe, she didn’t know what to say or do now she’d finally seen him in person… And before without even realising that it had been him. She was brought out of her own world when he stood in front of her and laughed. “I believe we’ve met before? Troy Bradshaw, nice to finally meet you.”

“C-Cecila Samara… Nice to meet you too.” Was her voice really that breathless? And had she seriously just stuttered? The scarlet haired saint wanted to crawl in to a hole and die at that point, nothing could have been more embarrassing than making an ass of herself in front of Troy. His arms were crossed over his chest, dressed in a black and purple polo shirt with jeans; on his biceps were two simple tattoos, Celtic ones by the looks of them.

“Nice tattoos.” Cecila thought it would be a common interest by slipping off her leather jacket, revealing her angel wing ones that were sat concealed by the thin straps of her purple vest and black bra. Slipping the jacket back on, he smiled to her, nodding as a thank you.

“You’re not how I imagined you.” Troy slid a cigarette from the back of his jeans, bringing it up to his mouth. “You seem more reserved in person than online.”  
“’Reserved’, I can’t tell if that’s meant to be a compliment or an insult.” She glanced up at him, there was a slight height difference between them, another thing she liked. Her eyebrow was raised ever so slightly as he nodded.

“Though I do expect when the competition shows it’s face, you’ll be second in line to try and beat them up.” He paused briefly as Cecila sniggered, then finished his sentence. “Just don’t make me arrest you.”

“I’d like to see you try, officer.” Cecila just laughed at the comment when Troy just shook his head, realising what she had come out with, though her loud laughter captured the attention of some of the other gangs from the zone. Shaundi slipped up to her, whispering in to her ear.

“Pierce already knows who all these people are, y’know.” She moved away from Cecila, Pierce stepping up with a grin on his face. His time to shine finally, he wasn’t the Saints reputation guy on the forums for nothing, his role meant he had to know who everyone was and how much a threat they’d likely pose to the group.

“The ones in Red, let’s start with the Columbians. They’re one of the oldest players in the game, the Lopez brothers. They were two of the original players when the game hit beta a few years back. They call themselves the Los Carnales.”

“It’s not the Los Carnales.” Dex piped up, glaring at Pierce. “It’s Los Carnales or The Carnales!”

“As I was sayin’, the Los Carnales-“ Another groan of agony came from Dex, Pierce grinning at him just to wind him up further. “Are the best at the drug dealing challenges, the others in red, you’ve got the Brotherhood, who’s run by the guy with the mullet and tattoos. Maero but everyone knows that it’s really being run by that little girl next to him, Jessica, his girlfriend, she’s the real brains behind the operation.”

“What about them.” Cecila motioned to an older man wearing a red scarf with a set of twins beside him. A set of very pretty twins, she had to admit.  
“That’s the Morningstar, they’re one of the three groups that came over from Steelport for the con, the twins are Viola and Kiki DeWynter while the boss is Philippe Loren. He isn’t French, before you ask, he’s Belgian.”

“So he can make himself a fuckin’ waffle, who gives a shit.” Gat piped up making Cecila glare at him, her arms crossing over her chest. “Who are the ones in green?”

“The Sons of Samedi!” Shaundi cut in, winking to Pierce as he whined about Shaundi taking his gig right from under him. “My ex is one of the members, the DJ for GenX radio? Veteran Child, he’s one of ‘em and the others are Mr Sunshine, the big boss calls himself the General.”

“Can I finish, Shaundi? Can you not steal my job?” Pierce huffed as Shaundi stuck her tongue out at him, grinning at Cecila. Winding Pierce up was really too much fun. “The last ones in green, they’re the Luchadores… I don’t really know a lot about them apart from the fact they’re from Steelport but their boss is that famous wrestler, Killbane.”

“Didn’t he completely wreck the career of that other wrestler he was meant to be friends with?” Cecila questioned, Pierce nodded his head as she clicked her fingers, trying to remember the name. “Ah, Angel de la Muerta? That was him right?”

“That’s right, he tore the mask clean off the guys face when he beat him.” Pierce watched as Cecila stared across at the Luchadore leader. He seemed like a royal dick, especially when the opponent was meant to be his friend. “Tearing off a losers mask is a form of humiliation. Angel de la Muerta won’t ever wrestle again.”  
“Shame he isn’t as good online as he is at wrestling.” Cecila just cackled, receiving a glare from the man in question. Pierce cleared his throat, just to bring back the attention to him.

“I’m assuming you don’t know that the Steelport gangs all work together and have their own connection, call themselves the Syndicate, they’re making waves in a different part of the online map though.” Pierce continued explaining the different gangs, Cecila’s eyes locking with one member of a gang wearing yellow and black biker jackets, a Japanese teenager, couldn’t have been much older than twenty-one. “The ones in blue though, the Deckers are the last part of the Syndicate, they’re the best at the hacking challenges, and their leader Matt Miller is sixteen-“

“Underage player, great.” Troy grumbled, rubbing his face as he took the lighter from his pocket and went to light the cigarette only to remember that smoking had been banned in the dome, he cursed under his breath and continued to listen.

“The Westside Rollerz, and that’s purposely with a z, like they can’t spell.” Gat snorted, causing them to scowl at the Saints, Cecila bit her lip; almost cringing at how pathetic it looked. They didn’t seem like a threat at all. “They’re the ones Lin has the most grief from.”

“They’re a bunch of speed freak rich kids that got their custom computers built for them. When they’re not wasting their time online, they’re getting Donnie to build their cars for them. Joseph Price runs the front, the muscular one with no brains, but his uncle William Sharp pays for everything else.” Lin spoke in a disgusted tone of voice, glaring across at the members of the Rollerz in blue.

“And those in yellow?” Cecila piped up again, motioning towards the last gangs. “Cause that little one keeps glaring at me.”

“The two in yellow are the Vice Kings and the Ronin but the VKs are on their way out, this is their last scheduled appearance before they delete their accounts, apparently their boss’s identity got leaked.”

“Who was it?” Gat questioned, resting an arm on Cecila’s shoulder, the scarlet haired woman snarled at him, getting a laugh from him instead.  
“Benjamin King.”

It fell silent; the owner of Kingdom Come Records played an online crime game? No wonder the Vice Kings were so powerful, the man ran his gang like his business. Gat just whistled lowly, shaking his head.

“My girlfriend Aisha, she’s been trying to get signed by Kingdom Come for years… She’s busking in the street today by the shopping centre.” He shook his head; Pierce continuing as Cecila made eye contact with the teenager from the gang known as the Ronin. She smirked across at him, the boy lifting his head in defiance.

“The Ronin, however, they’re a different story. The leader, Shogo Akuji, runs a majority of the game with his second in command, Jyunichi. They’re rumoured to be part of the Yakuza or at least have some form of connection with them.”

“I don’t give a shit who he’s connected to, I’m born and raised in the Row, I’ll stab a bitch.” Cecila snarled across to Shogo, he was pissing her off, she didn’t know what it was but there was something about him that she hated. The Saints snapped their heads towards their boss; her blue eyes had narrowed, watching him as he walked over.

“So you’re the Third Street Saints, the ones that have been ruining our scores…” Jyunichi was by his side, a bald man wearing a black and yellow jacket with a dragon engraved in to the leather. Shogo was indeed young, a lot younger than Cecila with black and yellow dyed hair. The same style of jacket sat open on his body showing off the yellow shirt underneath.

“What of it?”

“Watch your back.” Was all he said, brushing past her shoulders, forcing her to regain her balance. Cecila growled lowly, turning her head to snap back when he mumbled under his breath to her. “Back off the Ronin… ‘Cause I won’t rest until I’ve taken everything that you love away from you.”

“Back the fuck off, kid.” Gat snapped, shoving him away from Cecila, getting up close and personal with the kid. He tilted his head, glaring at him through the sunglasses. “Or I’ll let you meet a friend of mine that can rearrange your face.”

Shogo just smirked to Cecila, walking off with the rest of the gang in tow. Gat turning to Cecila, the red haired woman just breathed in, the thought of her daughter running through her head at his words. Everything that she loved, taken away from her, she wouldn’t let that happen, not over some stupid game.  
“You heard what he said, didn’t you.” Cecila whispered, eyes glancing up at Gat.

“Yeah, I did… And I’ll rearrange his face with a baseball bat if he even tries.”


	4. Crash Course

Cecila’s plan for a lie in was rudely interrupted by her phone blasting out the ringtone she’d set for Dex after taking everyone’s numbers at Row Con. Brushing her hair out of her face when she sat up, a yawn left her lips when she grabbed the offending device and hit the accept call button.

“Mornin’ Dex, what’s up?” Her voice was mumbled, words almost slurred as she yawned down the receiver. She definitely wasn’t awake enough to endure a phone call with Dex, no matter what the time was.

“Think you better check the forums, Boss.”

Cecila rose an eyebrow making her focus and wake up, Dex wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important, he sounded worried as well, possibly angry as well if she was listening to him right. Whatever had happened on the forums must have been bad if it deserved a phone call at… Oh. Cecila cringed when she checked the time, midday. Forcing herself out of bed, she shuffled over to the computer and booted it up.

“What’s happened?” Cecila yawned yet again in to the receiver, rubbing her eyes with the back of her free hand causing sparks of bright colours to fly in her eyesight when she opened them.

“Look, it’s better you see for yourself.”

“M’kay…” Logging on when she’d signed in on the computer and loaded the Internet browser, Cecila froze when she accessed the forums, topic upon topic dedicated to the Saints. She laughed, not noticing the titles of the topics until after she had spoken to Dex again. “The forum is talking about us, nothing new?”

“Look again, boss.”

“Oh… Fuck…”

Dozens of forum conversations had sprouted up about the Saints, one word standing out in all of the conversation topic titles. Cheating. A slander campaign had been set on the Saints and Dex had been the one to let her know. A heavy groan left her lips, she wasn’t awake enough for this, and a slander campaign wasn’t something she wanted to deal with first thing when she woke up.

“Where did this start, Dex?”

“We’re all looking in to it, our names are shit on the forum though, so I’d avoid commenting on anything until we find out who started it.”

“Got it, let me know what you find out.”

“Group skype meeting?”

“Yeah, I’ll do a mass text. Cheers, Dex.”

Cecila hung up, bringing the phone down from her ear and fiddled with the screen until she brought up the messages and typed in a mass text to the members of the Saints. Group Skype call later tonight; will message a time after I’ve picked Lolita up from school. She dropped her phone as soon as she’d hit send, clicking on the first of the many slander campaigns against the Saints. The comments made her stomach churn, not to mention the stories.

_I met the Saints at Row Con; they’re all arrogant fucks that were boasting about how amazing they were at the game._

_That Lin, y’know the one behind the name RideToHeaven, uses hacks to beat the races in stupid times, no one can beat the times that the staff set, everyone knows she must have hacked the times._

_Who even gives a fuck about SaintsFace? Who even is he?_

_Did you know that one of the members actually went to physically attack one of the Ronin! I recorded it all!_

Cecila groaned loudly as she hit play on the crappy phone quality recording from Row Con of Gat getting aggressive against Shogo Akuji, what the recording didn’t show was Shogo’s comments from before Gat’s outrage. Picking up her phone again, Cecila sent a text message to Gat.

Cecila Samara – 12:12pm - Your decision to pick a fight with Shogo Akuji ended up online; it’s even got the part where you threatened to bash his teeth in with a baseball bat. Moron.

Throwing the phone back on her desk, a heavy groan left her lips and covered her face with the palm of her hands, she couldn’t believe this, and the comments and threat from Shogo at the convention was bad enough. When her phone beeped, she slid her hands from her face and picked up the device, unlocking it to find a message from Troy instead of Gat like she had expected.

Troy Bradshaw – 12:16pm – I’m working late tonight, won’t be able to make the call if it’s before 10pm x

It wasn’t much sooner after that that another message came through from Troy, Cecila swallowed, a smile growing on her lips at the contents of the message. He even attached another little kiss at the end of the message, just for her.

Troy Bradshaw – 12:17pm – Did you just wake up though? What happened to seizing the day? x

Cecila Samara – 12:19pm – I might have done, my bed is just too comfy for words x

Cecila hit send and bit her lip, pondering on if it was wise to start flirting with him, he was probably at work, it wasn’t appropriate. She’d already written the message before she could stop herself and hit send, the feeling of dread washing over her when the message had sent.

Cecila Samara – 12:20pm – It would have been a lot comfier with you in it with me x

He was going to find her creepy, they’d not physically met until about a week ago and now she was flirting with him? He was the one who suggested meeting though; he’s as much to blame as I am for this. Besides, he isn’t Garrett, Troy is never going to be Garrett. When the phone beeped with an incoming text, Cecila almost leapt out of her skin, opening the text with her heart pounding in her chest. Her teeth biting down on her bottom lip so hard, she thought it might split and start bleeding.

Troy Bradshaw – 12:24pm – I’d rather be with you than working right now, would certainly be more interesting than a meeting with Chief Monroe xx

Cecila Samara – 12:27pm – Then come and arrest me, save yourself the boredom xx

Troy Bradshaw – 12:35pm – Could always arrest you for wasting police time xx

Cecila Samara – 12:37pm – Oh, I’m wasting police time now, am I? Nice to know I’m worth something xx

Troy Bradshaw – 12:43pm – But that would be taking advantage of my position as a figure of authority in this city xx

Troy Bradshaw – 12:45pm – And you’re worth a lot more than you think xx

Cecila Samara – 12:48pm – Maybe next time then, I’ll let you get back to your meeting xx

Cecila Samara – 12:50pm – Side note, that was really smooth xx

When the texting between her and Troy ended, Cecila shot a message along to Gat, asking if he’d be willing to meet up with them later when she went to pick up Lolita from school after Marie had been called in for a meeting at work. Meeting up with Gat had probably been one of the worse ideas she’d come up with in a long time, the man was furious, almost ready to tear the arm off one of the soccer moms that were making comments about Cecila and himself.

“I swear… This fuckin’ thing with Akuji at the con and now this shit.”

“Oh, so you can handle a smarmy teenager with a possible yakuza connection but not a soccer mom?”

“Teenagers are one thing even with a fuckin’ yakuza connection, soccer moms are another.”

He pulled a face, eyebrows knotting together when the bell for the school rang out, students starting to rush out to meet their parents. Cecila crossed her arms as she waited for her daughter, Gat glaring across at her.

“So what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t know? You’re the boss; you need to think of something! He threatened your damn kid!”

“That he doesn’t even know I have!” Cecila just laughed, running a hand through her long hair. The young girl she was waiting for came out shortly after, a smile on her lips as she hugged her mother then looked over at Gat. She was a pretty little thing with bright red hair like her mother and green eyes from her father; she had a pair of purple-framed glasses on her face.

“Ceci, who’s this?” Lolita questioned when she looked at her mother’s friend.

“This is your uncle Gat.” Cecila smirked as Gat pulled a face, he didn’t do well with kids, and he had to watch his language around them. Not to mention Aisha sometimes got broody when she saw a baby. “He’s helping me out with a problem at the minute.”

“A problem that’s standing across the road.” Gat suddenly interrupted, Cecila’s eyes widening as she hid Lolita behind her back. Sure enough, Shogo was stood across the road from the school, smoking a cigarette, eyes focused on Cecila. Fuck, he’d seen her with her daughter, that wasn’t good.

“I don’t want him near her.” She whispered, if he came over here… She crouched down in front of Lolita when Shogo started to make his way across the street towards them. “Sweetheart, can you go and stand by the gates for me?”

“Uh yeah?” Lolita raised an eyebrow but disappeared regardless as Shogo stood in front of Gat.

“So, that’s your daughter? You look alike.” He questioned Cecila as she made her way back over to them, her eyes narrowing at him, what did he want? Why was he showing his face around here? He shouldn’t have been here.

“Stay away from her.” Gat forced in, before Cecila had the chance. “You go near her and we’ll put you six feet under.”

“I’m going to warn you again.” Shogo ignored Gat, smirking at him as he took a drag of the cigarette, blowing out the smoke in Cecila’s face. She wafted the smoke away with her hand, scowling at him. “Back off otherwise the stuff so far will seem petty.”

Of course the Ronin had been the ones who put that stuff online, who else would it have been. At least Shogo practically owned up to slander of at least seven people, shame she wasn’t recording the conversation. Might have stood as evidence if they ended up in some form of court… But with Gat’s lovely threats of violence thrown in there, the recording wouldn’t have stood. Maybe it was for the best she wasn’t recording it.

“Don’t threaten my family or my friends then.” Cecila turned away, pulling Gat with her before Shogo decided to say anything else. She didn’t need him getting arrested outside of the school for deciding to punch him in the face and start a fight. Especially with an officer talking to- oh shit.

“Lo’!” Cecila rushed over to her daughter, crouching in front of her at the sight of the police officer talking to her. “I told her to wait here for me.”

“Cecila, calm down, I know.” Troy’s voice made her look up, Lolita just shook her head. “When I asked your daughter who she was waiting for, she pointed to you and Gat. I take it Akuji had something to do with that shit show on the forums this morning?”

“Just… Saying that worse was to come.” Cecila shook her head, the threat was still fresh, her eyes fell on Lolita when she rose to her feet again, she couldn’t let her get hurt. That was the worst possibility out of all of this; Gat just crossed his arms in defiance.

“If he tries anything, you tell any of us and we’ll sort it.” He nodded then checked his phone. “Shit, Eesh will want to know where I am, I’ll see you guys later before I’m stuck cleaning the house again.”

“See you man.” Cecila nodded as she took Lolita’s hand, looking up at Troy after Gat left the small group. “Thanks for just watching her for a moment. I better get her home.” As she left, her phone buzzed, the man already half way down the street when she turned to check, her eyes lighting up at the text, a huge grin growing on her lips.

Troy Bradshaw – 4:01pm – I would have asked but Gat was there, would you like to get coffee sometime? xx

Cecila Samara – 4:05pm – What like a date? xx

Troy Bradshaw – 4:07pm – Yeah, if that’s what you want? xx

Cecila Samara – 4:10pm – Sounds good to me xx


	5. Reality Check

It started out as a quiet afternoon when Cecila picked Lolita up from school and offered to take her to her favourite tea shop and restaurant in Chinatown as a treat for doing well in a piece of homework for school. And the fact she’d managed to arrange to meet Troy here at the same time so he could properly get to know Lolita wasn’t at all part of the reasoning she picked her up from school at all – plus the fact Lin also had a day job here meant she would get discount on the final total of her bill.

“So what’s this you’ve designed?” Cecila questioned as she sat at the table with Lolita, the ten year old sat scribbling in a book with coloured pencils sprawled out on the table in front of them all. The page that Lolita was currently working on displayed a beautiful boat neck gown, similar to a princess dress. The colour was a lightly shaded purple before trailing down in to a dark shade of the same colour. The girl just grinned at Cecila as she added some silver to some lace like patterns on the bodice of the dress.

“It’s your wedding dress, Ceci.” Lolita spoke, pushing the sketchbook across the table so her mother could look at it, a soft smile grew on Cecila’s lips as she looked at the dress. It was a beautiful design; she’d be more than honoured to wear a dress that her own daughter had designed for her wedding. Troy flashed through her mind, Cecila letting out a hiss and pushed the book back to Lolita, a pained expression on her face. “Don’t you like it? I can change it…”

“Oh god, Lolita, sweetie, no, it’s beautiful. I just… I don’t think I’ll be getting married for a long time.” She hated seeing the disappointed look on her child’s face but the fact remained that she wasn’t going to get married, probably not ever.

“But you had a date with Troy didn’t you?”

“Just because I had a date with Troy, doesn’t mean I’m going to marry him.” Cecila ran a hand through her long fiery hair, the little girl next to her pouting up at her. The blue-eyed woman just looked at her daughter with a slight smile, rubbing the top of her red hair, messing it up. “Sorry, sweetheart, Troy and I aren’t going to have a fairytale ending.”

“He isn’t dad, Ceci.” Lolita piped up, Cecila picking up a pink pencil that suddenly became more interesting than anything else. She didn’t know when her daughter had suddenly become so wise, but she had. Maybe she’d seen too much when her relationship with Garrett broke down. “Troy isn’t going to hurt you, not like dad did.”

“I know, I know… I’m just being stubborn, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, you are!”

The two giggled, Lolita going back to designing more outfits with Cecila’s input. The time ticked by until Troy walked up to them, slightly smiling with a cigarette hanging from between his lips. Lolita smiled brightly when she saw him, waving to him and shouted across the restaurant.

“Troy! We’re over here!”

“Good to see you, Lo’.” He spoke when he removed the cigarette from his lips, stubbing out the embers of the cigarette in the ashtray that was situated in the middle of the table. The officer sat down next to Lolita, smiling across to Cecila with a nod of his head. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“Lolita wanted to meet you properly, I wasn’t going to hear the end of it if I didn’t.”

“I needed to meet the one who Ceci never stops talking about!” The girl looked impressed with herself as her mothers cheeks burnt the same fiery red as her hair, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment. Troy just laughed, listening to Lolita as she began to explain all of her new fashion designs and her plans to release her own line of clothing for women that were of all sizes and shapes. When Lolita made her excuses and nipped to the bathroom, Troy leaned over to Cecila.

“I ran Akuji through the system.” His voice was low, glancing around in fear of someone hearing what he was using the systems at work for. He made it clear to Cecila that the checking of civilians without lawful reason was an offense that could cause him to lose his job. “He’s got a criminal record, not a petty record either.”  
“What kind of record? How dangerous is he?”

“Cecila… I can’t reveal that kind of information.” He rubbed his face with his hand, torn between giving her the information she needed from him and keeping himself from causing anymore damage to his career. “I could lose my job over this.”

“You know I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think this was needed, please Troy, I need to know if he’s likely to go through with his threats.” She hadn’t told anyone about the threat that Shogo had given her at Row Con, the thought of her personal information at risk. The thought of Lolita at risk was the one thing she was afraid of the most. And as long as Shogo remained adamant that the Saints were going down, Cecila would keep worrying about Lolita’s safety.

Troy opened his mouth to speak, hissing lowly as Cecila bit her lip, silently praying that Lolita didn’t come back yet. The officer nodded, giving up the moral battle in his head.

“He’s been arrested before… For crimes related to the Yakuza.”

“The Yakuza? Are you fucking serious? I thought his connection was just a rumour!”

“Not so loud! The public isn’t meant to know that information… Not even the Stilwater PD was meant to know. The file had been altered with a do not approach mark.” The rumours of police corruption were still being whispered around Stilwater, and the look of pain on Troy’s face just screamed that he didn’t know.

“You didn’t know. Fuck, you didn’t know. And Gat threatened to bash his face in with a baseball bat.”

“That’s not even the worst of it, Cecila. Shogo Akuji is the kid of the head of the Yakuza in Stilwater.” Troy groaned, Cecila’s eyes widened in shock. So, Gat hadn’t just threatened to bash the face in of any old moron, it just had to be the kid of the Yazuka head.

“Only Gat would threaten the Yakuza leaders kid, wouldn’t he?”

“But what did you say afterwards? ‘I don’t care who he’s connected to, I’m from the Row, I’ll stab a bitch’?” Troy forced laughter, trying to find some kind of humour in the situation that they were stuck in. Cecila’s eyes fell to the table, fingers drumming a beat. Troy’s hand reached across the table, taking Cecila’s in a gentle hold and rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand in a kind of reassurance. “We’ll fix this. Akuji isn’t going to be a threat to any of us.” The moment was broken as Lolita made her return, carrying a giant sundae dish filled with strawberry and raspberry ripple ice cream with hundred and thousand rainbow coloured bits on top of it.

“Hey Ceci, you don’t mind me having an ice cream before dinner do you?”

“I suppose just this once it will be alright.”

It was several days later during an online heist that Pierce asked a question, the crew was gunning against the Morningstar for one of the highest paying treasures in the game, the cut between the Saints would give them enough money to last months. The question, however, made them all freeze and pause the game.

SaintsFace – Anyone heard from Lin? Isn’t she usually the driver for this kind of thing? ‘Cause we all know Troy can’t drive stick.

TheTactician – I got a text from her a couple of days ago saying she was taking a break from the game.

Cecila chewed on her bottom lip, watching in silence as the messages kept popping up in the chat, no one but Dex had had any contact with her in the past few days. The red head had seen her at Mr Wong’s teashop but she hadn’t spoken to her, in fact, Lin couldn’t have gotten away from Cecila quick enough.

EightInch – Yo, who the fuck even is the boss of this gang? Sure as fuck don’t look like Cecila is if no one tells her shit.

TooManyQuestions – Stop trying to stir shit, Gat. Look what happened to the last boss before Cecila took over.

EightInch – Fuck off, Troy. We all know why you’re jumpin’ to her defence, getting all up close and personal with her.

The pinging messages made Cecila snarl, slamming down on the button to ping the other members of the chat. Running a hand through her loose fiery hair, Cecila typed back to the rest of the chat.

ScarletSaint – Gat, this is a serious fucking issue. I’ve seen Lin at the shop and she’s been avoiding me like I’ve got the plague.

EightInch – Maybe you do.

ScarletSaint – Not the time, Gat, not the time at all. Is Lin’s account still active?

TheTactican – I’ll check, give me two minutes

WildCard – I totally think Gat should be the new boss

EightInch – No fuckin’ way, Shaundi, I ain’t cut out for leadership, everyone knows that.

TheTactician – We have a bigger problem on our hands than leadership. It’s Lin’s account.

ScarletSaint – Don’t keep us waiting in suspence, Dex.

TheTactician – Her account says it was terminated through shoot out. She can’t log on because her character is dead.

An online multiplayer game with permanent death was usually the thing that turned people off from playing the game; the feature was the opposite reason for the Row Online. People flocked to it because of the permanent death, to see how long they could survive on their own without a gang. Cecila cursed under her breath, no wonder Lin hadn’t logged on and avoided her when she went to the shop – because her character had been murdered. Her fingers typed furiously on the keyboard, hitting the send button and picked up her mug of coffee, downing the murky brown liquid, the heat stinging the back of her throat with bitterness added in on it.

ScarletSaint – Who was the shoot out with?

TheTactician – The Ronin, who else would it be?

TooManyQuestions – Certainly not the Los Carnales

TheTactician – Stop doing that! Jesus, it’s not THE Los Carnales, it’s just Los Carnales or The Carnales

EightInch – You know he does it just to fuck with you, Dex, calm your shit.

TheTactician – Well you wouldn’t say Rio Grande River, jeez.

ScarletSaint – Can we focus? Troy, stop winding up Dex, we need him for this heist. Look, I’ll go talk to Lin tomorrow, see if I can find out what happened.

WildCard – Sounds good, can we get on with this heist for now?

The chat dropped in to silence apart from Gat occasionally throwing some grief to the other members of the Saints, laughing at their frustration. Cecila’s mind was focused on Lin, why wouldn’t she have said anything to them about losing her account? They needed her to take down the Ronin, they couldn’t do it without her, they needed her most of all. The red head hit her pillow later that night with the same dreaded sinking feeling in her stomach, listening to Akuji’s words from the convention repeat itself in her mind.

‘I won’t rest until I’ve taken everything that you love away from you’

The teashop was empty when she visited the next day; sunglasses pushed up from her face and sat on the top of her head. Heading over to the front of house, she smiled and spoke.

“Hey, can I speak to Lin please?”

“I’m sorry, miss, I’m afraid you’ve just missed her. You might be able to catch her if you hurry, she mentioned going to the market.”

Nodding, she slipped her sunglasses back on and headed outside in to the warm April heat. It was nice to have warm weather instead of the April showers that the city was normally plagued with. Still, Cecila hurried to the market, looking around for Lin. The stalls were busy, the different scents and sights were ones that Cecila loved to see. Stall owners trying to sell their different foods and items that had been imported from China, and no doubt hiding secret wares for certain customers only so it wasn’t a surprise some police officers from the Stilwater PD were walking around, keeping an eye on the event.

It was then when Cecila finally caught up with Lin, the young woman buying fruits from a stall as she made her way over to her. The Asian woman was surprised when Cecila lifted her sunglasses and spoke to her, automatically trying to get away from the conversation.

“Lin, can I have a word?”

“Can it wait, I’m busy.” Her tone was standoffish; trying her best to make her escape but Cecila just followed her through the stalls and out on to the streets of Chinatown again. Lin’s hair was twisted up in the up-do she did, complete with the golden hairpins holding them up, for once Cecila really appreciated the effort that a lot of women went to in order to make their hair so nice. It allowed Cecila to keep an eye on Lin while she navigated through the market.

“Not really.” Cecila sighed as the two finally came to a halt, the young woman opposite her licked her lips, turning her head away from Cecila, almost as if she knew what was coming. “You lost your account to the Ronin, didn’t you?”

“And?” She snapped as soon as Cecila had finished. “What is the big deal about me losing my account, that game isn’t everything Cecila.”

“No, I know it’s not just… Lin, we need you to take down the Ronin, we can’t do this without you.”

“You don’t get it do you?” She snapped, turning to face Cecila. The red heads eyes widened in shock as she stepped back from the woman. “You are obsessed with that game, it doesn’t matter, it’s just a stupid computer game and you are obsessed with ruining the life of some stupid kid that tried to start a fight with you. Get over it, Cecila. Your life isn’t dictated by that game. Grow up and take care of your kid.”

“But Lin-!”

“Stay away from me, Cecila. I want nothing to do with any of you, you’re all obsessed and you need to get out. That game was ruining my life, and I got out. Now do the same before your daughter suffers for it.”

The Row Online Rules and Information

• Accounts will be terminated if the player character is killed  
• The game features a permanent death system  
• Players will be able to sign up to the Row Online again six months after their first account termination


	6. It's Personal

Lin’s departure from the Saints left a bitter taste in the majority of the members mouths, it was expressed very clearly in the next skype meeting that they had to discuss the next course of action against the Ronin. Gat was furious, demanding blood – not physically demanding it but still, he wanted to wipe out the Ronin accounts just like they had done to Lin. Dex wasn’t able to get a word in edgeways to the shouting Korean man, to the point Aisha was yelling at him from the other room to shut up because she was trying to get her new lyrics down for her next busking session.

“Gat, calm down, trying to completely destroy the Ronin like you’re planning isn’t going to work.” Dex sighed, still trying desperately to calm Gat down and stop him from bursting a blood vessel. Cecila just laid back on her bed, watching the two begin to argue over video call. Her phone buzzing on the bedside table with her text tone playing loudly in to the bedroom, the text tone echoing ever so slightly as she reached up and grabbed it. A smile grew on her lips, seeing Troy’s name on the screen, while he was in the chat with them all, he still text her.

Troy Bradshaw – 19:23pm – I might have to end up arresting Gat at this point just to stop him from stabbing the nearest person xx

Cecila Samara – 19:24pm – It’s going to be Dex at this rate, I’m not cleaning up the blood xx

Troy Bradshaw – 19:26pm – But you’d give him an alibi? Or would you only give him one for Aisha’s sake xx

Cecila Samara – 19:28pm – Definitely for Aisha’s sake xx

Texting back and forth, Pierce cleared his throat and piped up, gaining Cecila and Troy’s attention again and away from each other if only for a few minutes. The chat had fallen silent, allowing the face of the Saints to make his own suggestion.

“We could always go talk to the Deck-“

“We could talk to the Deckers about doxxing the Ronin and getting their real life locations! Y’know their IP addresses and such!” Shaundi burst out, grinning as everyone nodded in agreement, Cecila just bit her lip as Pierce yelled, demanding to know why Shaundi stole yet another idea from him. Cecila’s phone buzzed again with another message from Troy.

Troy Bradshaw – 19:34pm – Doxxing is illegal, I can’t have any part in this if this goes ahead xx

“Yo, we can’t dox the Ronin.”

“Well why the fuck not?” Gat snarled, Cecila ran a hand down her face and shook her head.

“Because it’s illegal for one and we are not lowering ourselves like that! We take the Ronin out the way we should have done. Beat them online, ruin their leader board scores, if we ruin them that way then we can eventually kill their characters and get them off the game for at least six months.”

Cecila knew that if she didn’t take control of this then the gang would spiral in to chaos and she knew it would. Lin’s words did echo in her mind, she needed to get out of the game, otherwise her life would be ruined in the end, it wasn’t like Cecila had much going on in her life anyway. She had her daughter but Marie was taking care of her more often than none now, the whole situation with the Ronin was eating in to her life and she knew it. Yet she refused to acknowledge that Lin was right.

“Fine.” Gat grumbled in to the call, bringing Cecila back to the present. “We’ll do it your way, Boss. When do we start?”

“Dex, can you look at the events coming up, let us know the best ones. Shaundi, watch the Ronin boards, check what events they’re talking about if you can. Get me the details and times on all of them.” Cecila bit her lip, thinking about the roles for the other members of the Saints. “Gat, rile up the Ronin. You’re the best one for this job, don’t let me down on this ‘cause I need you to create as much havoc as possible. Pierce, bring our reputation up on the boards, get us back on everyone’s side again and Troy…”

“Don’t worry, I know what to do.” The officer nodded, bringing yet another lit cigarette to his lips, breathing out the smoke. Cecila winked to him, telling the chat that she would speak to them in a couple of days time to arrange their plans against the Ronin.

Lin’s words echoed to Cecila as the days past by, arranging the final plans on taking down the Ronin. A big experience and prize event was due the same weekend, and the Saints cleaned it up. The words that Lin spoke to her were pushed to the back of her mind, the same for the ones that Shogo muttered to her at the convention. Nothing else matter but destroying the Ronin, they needed to be taken down for Lin.

They were doing this for Lin.

Races. Heists. Drug Smuggling. Snatching. Mayhem. The main challenges for the week were dominated by the Saints, snatching the top places in all of the leader boards, knocking down the Ronin to second, then third, then fourth then finally, the bottom of the leader board featuring the best gangs in the world. Cecila pushed off her headphones, grinning when the weekend event finally ended, a weekend of Lolita staying at Marie. But to see the reaction on the forums… It was worth every second of her staying away.

_The Saints cleaned up that event!_

_Looks like the Ronin ain’t such hot shit anymore!_

When Cecila switched the computer off that night, a smug little grin on her lips, she never received the private message from Shogo until the morning after. Her blood running cold when she read the text on the screen, eyes widen from shock.

I warned you, I told you I would take everything you love from you.

The date with Troy arrived sooner than Cecila expected it to do, the time he had shared with Lolita and Cecila at the teashop in Chinatown had only made them both more eager to see each other again – especially if the flirty text messages and images that she had sent to him were anything to go by. The message from Shogo had been pushed to the back of her mind as she sat in the coffee shop waiting for Troy to arrive, hair in a neat bun with strands of her scarlet hair framing her face and a pretty purple summer dress on her body.

“Hey.” She was snapped out of her thoughts when Troy’s voice filled her ears, she smiled up at him, only to raise an eyebrow to see him in his uniform. “Ah, I have work after this. There’s… A lot going on at the station right now… They need me to go through files with a couple of my colleagues.”  
“If you need to go now, we can rearrange-“

“No, I don’t know when I’m next going to be free.” He forced a smile but the look in his eyes showed pain, there was probably more to the investigation than he could actually tell her; it wasn’t her place to pry. He sat down at the table with her, Cecila biting her bottom lip.

“I take it you can’t say anything?” Her question was answered with a shake of his head, well that closed that line of conversation as a waitress came over and took their order. Two lattes, one caramel flavoured and a slice of red velvet cake to share between them, her daughter’s favourite cake. “Lo’s doing well, she keeps asking after you.”

“Yeah? Hope I didn’t bore her.”

“Not at all, she really likes you… I think she sees you as a father figure, which is good after Garrett…” She sighed as the drinks and cake was brought over, eyes falling on the cup. Troy raised an eyebrow; she’d mentioned Garrett several times but never explained what had happened.

“What happened with Garrett?”

“You sure are a fuckin’ cop, aren’t you?” She laughed, of course he would ask, why wouldn’t he? His online name was too many questions after all. Rubbing the back of her neck, she looked him dead in the eyes. “You really want to know?”

“If you’ll tell me.”

“… Garrett… Was my husband, Samara is my maiden name. He was my boyfriend in high school and… I fell pregnant when I was seventeen…” Cecila licked her lip, hands clenching around the cup of coffee in front of her. The brown liquid was suddenly much more interesting than Troy. “Marie insisted I marry him, if only to provide for Lo’, that was his name choice… I wanted to name her Lindsey.”

“What happened to Garrett?”

“Found him in bed with another woman, because I was too busy with our daughter.” She shook her head, taking a big gulp from the coffee cup, the hot liquid burning her mouth as she swallowed. “Took that fucker to the cleaners, found that bastard with another woman on our wedding anniversary… It destroyed Lo’ when he left… And I swore, I would never let another man hurt Lo’ and I like that again.”

“You’re a good mother, Cecila. Despite what your sister thinks.”

“… Thank you…”

The date continued quietly, speaking of happier topics, Cecila shoving cake in Troy’s mouth then letting him feed her the cake until they ran out. When they finished their drinks, the police officer paid and left the shop with his arm linked with Cecila. They paused outside, Cecila biting her lip as Troy began to speak.

“I should probably get to work, sorry to-“ He was cut off by her reaching up and pressing her lips against his. When she pulled back, she breathed in sharply and laughed.

“Oh god, sorry, I just… I’ve been wanting to do that for a while and-“ She was cut off by Troy kissing her back, her arms slipping up to around his neck, pulling herself closer to him. When they broke away, she was laughing, burying her face in his shoulder. “Did that just happen?”

“I think it did. Might need to check again.” He leaned down to kiss her again when Cecila’s phone rang, she pulled it from her pocket, frowning as she answered and brought it to her ear.

“Marie?”

“You need to get to the police station now. Lolita’s been taken.”


	7. Mother Dearest

The journey down to the station was a tense one, Cecila snapping at Troy whenever he tried to ask her a question. She’d been taken, her daughter had been taken, and the threat from Shogo was fresh in her mind. Lin’s words echoing again, the game had ruined her life if the culprit really was who she believed it was. The station was quiet; Troy taking her to the investigation room when he found out which floor it was on. Marie was sat at a table, waiting for Cecila, rising from the chair when she came in.

“What happened?” Cecila questioned, Marie just glared at her, hand rising, connecting with Cecila’s cheek with a stinging slap. The red haired woman fell backwards slightly, Troy catching her before she fell.

“You stupid girl! This is all over that pathetic game of yours! She was safe until you got involved in that!” Marie snapped, hands shaking as Cecila covered the red print on her face. “You’ve messed up before… But nothing on this scale!”

“I didn’t want her to be involved!” Cecila responded, trying not to let tears form in her eyes.

“Well she was and now she’s suffering. Chief Monroe is investigating this for us.”

Troy raised an eyebrow as Cecila pulled away, Chief Monroe was involved in this? For a kidnapping case? There was definitely more to this than met the eye if he was involved, especially considering whom Cecila had been threatened by at the convention. It was then another officer entered the room, a look of pain on his face, Cecila turned to face him, panic on her expression.

“I’m sorry… But there’s nothing we can do to find the girl.”

Her legs gave way, no sound leaving her lips as everything slowed down. They couldn’t find her. They were giving up on her. They weren’t going to find her, Cecila didn’t know who was helping her up on her feet again. Her eyes were wide and dead. She didn’t want to think. She just wanted her daughter back.  
“If… If you won’t find her…” She started speaking, voice weak and shaky to the point only Troy could hear her. Marie screaming at the officer at the top of her voice, demanding to see Chief Monroe and get him to find the girl. “T-then I’ll find her myself…”

It was two days after the chief had sent an officer to announce that the Stilwater PD wouldn’t be able to help them find Lolita that Cecila received a phone call while at home, Dex’s name flashing on the screen. The woman had made the decision to get the Saints involved on the kidnapping, as well as the forum. For the first time, Cecila had posted information relating to what had happened online along with photos of herself and her daughter, begging anyone that had seen her to contact her or any of the Saints immediately.

_Oh god we’ll look out for her!_

_Do you know who did it?_

It had caused an uproar when she announced that she believed that Shogo of the Ronin had taken her daughter, but when she finally gave the evidence of the threats from Row Con up to now and the private message that he had sent following the game takeover, people were starting to believe the truth. The admin of the game responded in time, removing all accounts associated with the Ronin.

The Saints had jumped to the chance to help, Dex promising to use security at his job with Ultor if he could get access to it, Gat had made sure Aisha was going to look out for her while she busked. Shaundi was going around all her hangouts to make sure they kept an eye out for the girl. Troy had confirmed later on that he wasn’t allowed to officially help her due to Chief Monroe’s decision, but subtly mentioned that if they found Shogo, he’d be more than willing to come and arrest him.

“We found them.” Dex’s voice came through the receiver; Cecila felt a breath of relief leave her lips and already had paper ready to scribble the address down. The place was a beat down factory in the former factory area of Stilwater’s Saints Row district, normally a place Cecila would avoid going to if she could. As soon as she was off the phone, she called Shaundi, Pierce and Gat to accompany her on getting her back. Pierce drove the car out to the factory; parking up outside so Cecila, Gat and Shaundi could climb out.

“Shaundi, you’re look out.” Cecila spoke with a strange confidence, Gat watched her with a raised eyebrow. “Pierce, you’re the get away. Gat, you’re with me, let’s get my kid back.”

Cecila just breathed in as her and Gat made their way in to the abandoned factory, parts of the ceiling crumbling above and falling down with a crash. The red head just breathed in, shaking her head, they needed to get in an out, fast. Crouching down, the two followed the twisting rooms of the factory, listening for shouting.

“I’m bored! Can I go home now?”

The childs voice made Cecila breath a quiet sigh of relief, she hadn’t been hurt, Lolita was ok. Gat motioned for her to come closer as they hid behind an over turned table.

“What’s the plan?”

“Get her back, but no killing.”

“Not even a little bit?”

“Break some bones if you must, but no killing. We’re not online anymore… We ain’t invincible.” She shook her head, looking at the man who simply nodded his head.

“You’re the boss.”

“But… When she’s out of the way… I want Shogo to suffer.” Her voice was shaking, was she certain she wanted him to suffer? He was just a kid, they were a pair of grown ups. They knew better than to make him suffer… But he’d taken her daughter, that couldn’t be excused. “I don’t know, rough him up, make him scared.”

“We can do that.”

The two slipped out of cover, watching from behind a pillar as Shogo stepped back and forth, Lolita sat tied to a chair with her legs swinging back and forth. She seemed bored, even more so as she continued to whine loudly. Even Shogo seemed to be getting close to the end of his patience.

“Can you take me home yet? I liked the cake but I want my mom. Plus I’m missing school.”

“Don’t you ever shut up?”

“Nope! Not when I’m bored~!”

It was too suspicious; there was no one here with him, had he done this by himself? Where was his bodyguard, Jyunichi? This didn’t make any sense at all. But it made their job a lot easier than she assumed it was going to be.

“I think you better let my kid go.” She spoke as she slipped out from the shadows, motioning to Gat to cover her if anything went wrong. Her hands rested on her hips, staring down at the young man. Lolita grinned as she shuffled in her chair. “Lo’, it’s ok now. But you?” She directed her tone at Shogo, the young man shuffling on the spot as he looked at her. “No one gets away with kidnapping my kid.”

“Delete your account and I’ll give her back.”

“You kidnapped my kid over a game. You threatened me over a game. Over a fucking computer game!” Cecila snapped, everything that had built up was over a game that had taken control of their lives. A stupid game that got her obsessed and it got this kid obsessed to the point he’d kidnap a child in order to get what he wanted. “I’ll let you walk away… Just give her back.”

“My father will-“

“I don’t give a shit, who your father is.” Cecila stepped forward, Gat slipping past and untying the ropes that held the girl to the chair and pulled her out, taking her out of the factory. She grabbed the young man, forcing him in to a headlock and walked him out of the factory, Shaundi was holding Lolita’s hand, taking her away from the factory with Pierce as Gat opened the back door of the car, Cecila shoving Shogo inside.

“W-where are you taking me! Let me go!”

“Shut up. You don’t get a choice in this, you understand?” Gat piped up, Shogo shutting up as Cecila got back in the car, Gat climbing in the drivers seat. The red head breathed in, lowering her head as she spoke.

“Airport, take us there.” The Korean man stared at her, nodding his head, this was better than killing him. Sending him away where he couldn’t be involved again, sure this was probably going to lead to trouble with the Yakuza but she didn’t care at this point. The drive was long and silent apart from the whimpering of Shogo in the back, she wanted him dead but she was better than that. He was just a kid, wasn’t he?

When they arrived at the airport, Cecila kicked the door open and pulled Shogo from the back of the car. “You go. I don’t care where but you don’t fucking return here.” Cecila pressed her forearm against Shogo’s throat, licking her lips as she smirked. “You return here… And I’ll kill you. Nobody threatens my family or my friends.”

She pulled away, shoving him in to the doors of the airport. Gat looked at her through the window of the car as she climbed back in, making sure the Ronin leader had fled, she closed her eyes as the car pulled off, travelling back to towards Marie’s place where Shaundi and Pierce had taken Lolita, a safe place where no one would hurt her.

“She’s going to take her from me.” She muttered to Gat, the man glanced at her shaking his head. “But I let it happen, Lin was right. This was all over some stupid computer game.”

The journey back was a blur. Even when she arrived at Marie’s house and she refused to let her see the girl, shouting at her, screaming, calling her a failed mother. It was her fault, she lost her temper as well, she didn’t even know where she was going until she ended up knocking on a door. Troy opened up, confused about why she was outside.

“I-I failed… I-I couldn’t protect her… She’s taken her from me… I-I don’t want to go home… Can I stay here?”


	8. Logging Out

The bed was softer than her own bed back in her apartment; even the sheets were nicer quality. The pillow next to her smelt like Troy’s aftershave, the red head pulling the pillow towards her and buried her face in it, hoping desperately to avoid facing the possible future of not having her daughter. The scent that enveloped her senses was comforting, the thought of Troy still being there for her even though she’d…

“You awake?” His voice was soft as he pushed open the door, Cecila forcing a smile on her lips as she raised her head, nodding. Troy was partly dressed, heading over to the wardrobe to slip on his shirt for work. “What did you mean, last night?”

“What about last night?” Cecila had silently hoped that he wouldn’t have brought up what she’d mentioned last night. When she turned up on his doorstep, tears streaking down her face because Marie had taken Lolita from her. All because of that stupid little boy that couldn’t differentiate from fantasy and reality, he’d cost her everything. All over the fact she beat him in a leaderboard ranking on a stupid online computer game.  
“You said that Marie had taken Lolita from you.”

“… Troy, she said I was a failure. That I should never have had her if I’d never intended to look after her.” The red head breathed in sharply, trying to steady her voice but he noticed very suddenly. Turning away from the wardrobe, stepping over to the bed and perched on the edge of it, eyes soft as he lifted her head gently when she tried to avoid looking at him. “I tried to protect her, Troy. I-I never thought a stupid game would cause Lo’ to get kidnapped… This whole fucking fight was over a stupid leaderboard and my personal information got leaked on to the forum…”

He didn’t force her to speak, just letting her reveal everything at her own pace, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb in a soothing manner to let her know that he was there for her regardless. Her voice was shaking, tears starting to streak down her face.

“Sh-she’s my daughter, Troy! A-and Marie says I’m a danger to her! B-because of some stupid kid!”

Cecila buried her face in the crook of Troy’s neck, sobbing harshly. His arms wrapped around her body, gently rocking her as she clung on to him. She wanted her daughter back, to forget everything that happened because of the stupid game. Troy pressed a kiss to the top of her messy hair, running his fingers through the tangled locks.

“We’ll get her back, we’ll think of something.”

“We’ll…?” Cecila pulled away slightly, her face contorted in confusion as she stared up at him. Troy nodded, brushing away her tears with the pads of his thumbs.  
“Yes, we’ll get her back. I’m not sure how, but we will.”

“… Why do you care? She isn’t even your kid.”

“True but she asked me something when we met while you were picking her up from school.”

Blue eyes were filled with even more confusion as Troy laughed, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “Lo’ made me promise that I’d make an honest woman of you.” Troy spoke, his lips curled upwards in a cheeky smile, watching her reaction to her daughters words. Her eyes widened, cheeks turning redder with each passing second as she put the pieces together.

“S-she wants you to marry me? T-that’s just-!”

“Eventually.” He laughed, Cecila looking rather sheepish as she bit her bottom lip. Heart beating wildly in her chest, again, she’d never felt like this about anyone since Garrett had left her, and her own daughter was trying to get her married before she even realised it. “Calm down, I’m not suggesting marriage anyway. Just… Maybe, if Marie is ok with it, Lo’ could live here.”

“Marie will never let you look after Lolita.”

“Cecila, I meant live here with us.” Her body froze, trying to register what she’d thought she’d heard. Troy pulled a face, eyes showing worry when she said and did nothing.

“You mean move in with you? Permanently? I… I’d love that.”

A smile grew on her lips, Troy pulling her in to his arms again, kissing her softly. When she pulled away, Cecila licked her lips, eyes flirty as she slid her hands down his bare chest, shirt hanging unbuttoned still.

“Any chance you can take half a day? I thought we might celebrate~?” She purred to him, watching as he shrugged off the shirt, the clothing falling to the floor; Troy captured Cecila’s lips with his own again, pushing her down into the bed. A giggle leaving her lips when he trailed butterfly kisses down her neck.

She should have had Troy with her for this, standing outside Marie’s house while she thought of what to say to get Lolita back. She’d seen too much when they’d broken her out of that run down factory, she was lucky that Shaundi and Pierce had taken Lolita from her and Gat when they’d taken Shogo and punished him by performing the exile by the airport. Troy didn’t need to know what she’d done to Shogo, he probably already knew, but she did it to protect her child.

“Come in.” Marie had opened the door while Cecila was thinking, the red head walking inside to see Lolita drawing at the coffee table again. Marie’s arms crossed over her chest, shaking her head. “You’re dangerous, Cecila. She’s safer here”

“She probably is.” Cecila sighed as Lolita looked up at her, eyes wide. “You were right.” Marie looked at her as she admitted the truth. “I am addicted, it got the one thing that means the most to me hurt. I… I can see that now.”

“… I suppose… She is better off with you…”

The sisters sat down, discussing the damage that had been done. Lolita had suffered, she wouldn’t recover for a long time. The people that Cecila had become friends with had helped her more than anyone else had in her life, she’d made friends that had her back and would drop everything to come to her aid, especially Gat. Cecila couldn’t help but smile, she had to thank him, Lolita would still had been in danger if it wasn’t for him charging in like a bull in a china shop.

“And that police officer?” Cecila’s cheeks flushed as Marie brought him up. “He’s a better man than Garrett… Don’t let him go. She’s free to go with you.”

Lolita just grinned, giggling to herself, there was the explanation for how Marie knew about her and Troy. Who else would have told her about them? Cecila packed Lolita’s things up in a bag, taking her daughters hand as they left the house, Marie smiling at the door as they made their way down the street. There was just a couple more things to do before she moved on, Cecila knew she had to do it now otherwise she wouldn’t at all. That evening, outside of Troy’s house, she sent Lolita in to settle then took her phone out of her pocket. She still needed to thank one more person as she dialled the number.

“Hey, Cecila.” Gat’s voice came through on the phone, Cecila smiling, at least he was ok.

“Hey… I was just calling to say thanks, she’s… She’s coming home, Gat. Marie’s letting me take her home… I’m calling it a day though, that fucking game…”

“You need to think of Lo’ first.”

“Yeah, she still wants to see uncle Gat though, so I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Take care of yourself, boss.”

“I will.”

The phone call disconnected, Cecila breathing in as she opened the door to Troy’s house again, Lolita running in as she made her way to the computer room. She had one last thing to do before she continued with her new life, Troy shouting through to Lolita to help him with the dinner. As the computer booted up, Cecila sat down at the desk, biting her bottom lip, was she really going to be able to do this?

“Mom! Come on! Troy’s making dinner!”

Cecila stared at the computer monitor, hand frozen on the mouse. The screen showed the close account page, she didn’t need the game anymore. This wasn’t her life anymore. Everything that had happened was because of the stupid game, she’d made some incredible friends, most of them had gotten their big breaks but the damage that the ‘Ronin’ had done on Cecila’s family was too much, she had to put her daughter first. She clicked the button and smiled to herself as Lolita stood in the doorway, eyes blinking with happiness deep inside them.

“Mom?”

“I’m coming now sweetie.”

_Thank you for playing The Row Online  
We hope to see you again soon._


End file.
